Many Patients Are Simultaneously Tested for Acute Coronary Syndrome, Pulmonary Embolism, and Aortic Dissection

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS), pulmonary embolism (PE), and acute aortic dissection (AD) are potentially life-threatening diseases that can present with similar symptoms. Researchers retrospectively assessed the frequency of simultaneous evaluation for these three diseases in a chart review of 626 patients who were tested for at least one of them at a single academic emergency department in January 2006. Although certain tests might be useful in the diagnostic evaluation of more than one disease, the authors categorized the eight tests studied as being primarily for ACS (serum troponin T, serum troponin I, creatine phosphokinase MB), for PE (serum d-dimer, PE computed tomography [CT] scan, ventilation perfusion scan), or for AD (AD protocol…